SECRET NEGOTIATIONS LEAVE PUBLIC, CONGRESS IN THE DARK

While the people of San Diego spend summer days on the beaches and the bay, few of them know that just down the road, others are discussing behind closed doors a trade pact that could have great impacts on our precious environment and natural resources in California, the U.S. and around the world.

From July 2 through July 10, representatives from the U.S. and eight other Pacific Rim countries are meeting in San Diego for the next round of negotiations for a new trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

With such high stakes, anyone recognizing the principles our nation was founded on would think that the public should be able to weigh in. At the very least, we’d expect that our elected representatives in Congress would have a say.

The reality is that the majority of the public and legislators alike aren’t even able to see the text of this massive, all-encompassing trade deal. Access to this critically significant language that would change the fundamental ways our economy works is limited almost exclusively to a handful of government negotiators and corporate advisers.

As chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness, it would only make sense that Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., should at least see a peek of TPP drafts. When he was denied, he introduced a bill demanding transparency in the negotiations. Over 130 members of Congress also took action, sending a letter to the U.S. trade representative demanding a more open process.

So if our members of Congress can’t see the TPP, who can? None other than some of the most deep-pocketed corporations in the world, including Chevron, Halliburton and PhRMA (The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America). While they are putting their profits first, who is around to speak up for clean air and water, for American families, and for protections that will ensure the rest of us don’t pay the price?

What we have seen of the TPP confirms that we should be concerned. A recently leaked draft of the investment chapter has given us a glimpse of what that future will look like if these unbalanced negotiations continue. The text gives corporations the right to sue governments for unlimited cash compensation – in private tribunals – over nearly any law that they argue is hurting expected future profits.

This extreme provision means that new safeguards which, for example, could prevent big oil companies from dumping waste into our ocean could be challenged because they dip into Exxon or Shell’s record profits. It’s a provision that could open the door for corporations to challenge foundational environmental protections and conservation laws that protect our health.

It’s shocking, but sadly it’s not unprecedented. Under NAFTA, Canada’s government challenged a California law requiring that the damage near Native American sacred sites caused by open-pit mines be restored. Under the World Trade Organization, an appellate body found that U.S. dolphin-safe tuna labels discriminated against Mexican tuna fishers.

The American public is expected to cede its health and environmental safety for the sake of a corporation’s bottom line.